‘Spot on’: Credlin defends Kamahl’s $40 billion Indigenous spending claim during tense interview on The Project

Sky News Australia host Peta Credlin has backed a claim made by Kamahl about funding for Indigenous Australians during his tense interview on The Project.

The Malaysian-born singer appeared on the Network 10 program on Sunday night where he doubled down on his stance against the Voice to Parliament after changing his mind twice. 

During the live television segment, Kamahl made repeated claims that $40 billion has been spent on Indigenous programs every year. 

“At the moment, it’s $40 billion a year, $40 billion dollars a year to the Indigenous people,” he said during part of the interview. 

“Where is the money going to? What are they doing with it?”

Project host Hamish Macdonald quickly pulled up the singer on his claim, questioning where he found the figure. 

“I saw it in… somebody told me. Do you think I’m making it up?” Kamahl replied. 

McDonald then referenced a claim made by Tony Abbott on Sydney’s 2GB radio in July that the National Indigenous Australians agency spends $30 billion each year on programs.

“That’s been fact checked as false,” The Project host said on Sunday.

“The government agency says it’s never administered funding of $30 billion a year on Indigenous programs, it’s total budget for 2022-23 was $4.5 billion.”

After a heated back and forth Kamahl conceded he “made a mistake” on the figure, but reiterated he still planned to vote No in the upcoming referendum. 

During her editorial on Monday night, Credlin declared Kamahl was “spot on” with his claim about funding for Indigenous Australians. 

“The Project hosts, well, they did a good job of trying to verbal him into thinking that his macro $40 billion budget number was somehow related to Canberra’s National Indigenous Agency,” she said on Credlin. 

“He didn’t say that, they said that.”

Credlin believed the singer was referring to overall budget numbers from all state and territory governments across the country. 

“And the truth is that Kamahl was right. Taxpayers do spend around $40 billion a year on Aboriginal Australians,” she said. 

Credlin then cited the 2017 Indigenous Expenditure Report from the the federal government’s Productivity Commission. 

She pointed to an excerpt of the document which states that the total direct government expenditure on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians was roughly $33.4 billion in 2015-2016. 

“Then there’s all the specific Indigenous programs run by state and federal governments, such as the $4.5 billion spent by the National Indigenous Australians Agency,” she continued.

“Adjusting the 2016 figure in the Productivity Commission’s report for inflation, well, that gives us now a figure of $39.5 billion in Aboriginal spending today.

“So, Kamahl last night on The Project was actually spot on with his $40 billion figure.”

Kamahl initially voiced his opposition to the Indigenous advisory body on social media in September, admitting that he did not understand the proposal. 

The 88-year-old then backflipped on his position after speaking with Indigenous comedian Dane Simpson and constitutional lawyer Eddie Synot.

“Changing my mind wasn’t too difficult, because the No was a flippant ‘no’. It was not an educated no,” he told ABC News Breakfast on Sunday.

The backflip had boosted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s confidence in the Yes vote, telling reporters “Kamahl-mentum” would pick up steam ahead of the referendum.

However, days later Kamahl changed his stance for a second time and confirmed that he will cast a No vote on October 14.